Abstract
In Literacy and the Politics of Representation, Mary Hamilton brings together the analysis of media text, policy documents, and teaching and learning documentation to provide a comprehensive examination of public understandings of literacy, in terms of the representations of literacy that circulate in a variety of social contexts. Comprised of eight chapters segmented in two sections, the book aims to provide a critical and holistic analysis of the debates surrounding literacy, and the impact they have on the various social groups affected by institutional decisions. Hamilton’s study is anchored in the political and social dimensions of literacy, presenting an account of the material and ideological consequences of the discourses that define and regulate it.
Chapter 1 begins with an examination of the development of the term ‘literacy’ in history and its applications in modern society. Through a historical account of the UK’s experience with literacy, Hamilton explains its direct and indirect impact through state policies and practices related to progress. The introduction also synthesizes different frameworks – such as actor network analysis, new literacy studies and social semiotic theory – that the author employs to make sense of literacy in an increasingly globalized world.
The second chapter is devoted to the symbolic power of numbers in describing narratives of literacy. It presents interesting insights on the rise of psychometric testing as a method for accounting for literacy, which effectively legitimize the policies and program that enact literacy development. Numbers are not only descriptive but normalizing: they provide credibility through the creation of comparative international statistics based on quantitative approaches to literacy. Chapter 3, in turn, explores the visual representations of literacy, specifically through the use of visuals in mass and popular media. The increasing use of visual images in recurring press stories about literacy in the educational domain provides ample material.
Chapter 4 delves into narrative accounts of literacy. Emphasizing the power of agency, the chapter analyses the capacity of one’s voice to be heard and enacted amidst institutional control. Moreover, it also describes the different constraints (material and political) that serve as barriers to articulating resistance to dominant institutional ideologies concerning literacy. Chapter 5 uses a combination of analyses provided in the previous chapters to explain the governance of literacy. Using different case studies from UK projects on literacy through individual and country reports, the chapter provides varied perspectives on representations of literacy in different sectors of society. Chapter 6 employs the same methodological stance, examining narratives of literacy in the news as an index of the socio-cultural trajectory of the construct.
Chapter 7 offers alternative representations of literacy through an intricate discussion of several projects conducted by Gatehousebooks, which incorporates student autobiographical writing in their publications. The chapter also describes the contexts of participation in creating third spaces for learners in resisting dominant ideologies surrounding literacy. In Chapter 8, Hamilton provides a succinct summary of the previous chapters and puts forward different positions in creating alternative imaginings of literacy in society. She argues that creating alternative spaces for individuals is important given that diversity should lead to inclusive practices that recognize differences among people.
As a whole, the book’s attempt to examine the different representations of literacy from a range of methodological and theoretical perspectives is effective. It provides readers with a holistic sense of the power of literacy not only to liberate, but also to oppress individuals. The use of a wide variety of methods is useful in unraveling the different interpretations of the social and political dimensions of literacy. The book not only provides a rich description of representations of literacy in the UK, but also engaging insights for further research, making it a useful read for all scholars adopting a political angle in the contested area of literacy studies.